


Mother Dearest

by rowanix



Category: Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, and lucy's mum is a bitch, basically a concept of other fetches existing, locklyle if you squint, post-TEG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 11:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18222374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowanix/pseuds/rowanix
Summary: Collab with @/shookboooks on tumblr!On a case, Lucy encounters a Visitor that’s a little more than she bargained for.





	Mother Dearest

**Author's Note:**

> Gonna upload some fics here that have been on only tumblr for a while.

Lucy had never liked museums. Dark, musty places that stank of death and decay. This one especially.

Lockwood & Co. had been called out to investigate the place after three of the staff had been found dead, with looks of terror frozen on their faces. The problem was, with so many exhibits, basically anything could have been a Source, and there was only so much research George could do, so they had decided to scout out the place first after dark and see what kind of ghosts showed up, then come back after proper research had been conducted. A sensible plan, if ever there was one. What could possibly go wrong?

“If you don’t shut up, I’m chucking your skull in a furnace.”

“What’s he saying, Luce?” George inquired, eying the Skull’s ghost reproachfully as he grinned at him sardonically. “Does he sense any Sources?”

“Oh, he’s not saying anything helpful, that’s for sure,” Lucy replied, turning her head away so Lockwood wouldn’t see her flush.

“ _Aw, what’s the matter?_ ” Skull said, grinning at her. “ _I’m sure many people talk in their sleep. If you happened to mention_ –”

“Shut. Up,” Lucy seethed.

“ _It’s not like he’ll hear me…_ ”

“This place is kind of big, how about we split up?” said Lockwood, seeming to sense Lucy’s growing irritation. “Holly and Flo, how about you take the Skull with you to give Lucy a break, and she can come with me, George, and Quill.”

Holly looked a little uncomfortable at the suggestion, though whether it was Flo or Skull that she was more adverse to was a mystery. Flo didn’t seem too happy, either; Lucy felt it likely she’d only tagged along to hang out with George.

“If you hurt them in any way, I will personally kill you,” Lucy said sternly, passing the skull to a grimacing Holly who held it by her fingertips before dropping it distastefully into her handbag.

“ _Has it passed your notice that I’m already dead?_ ”Skull replied. “ _But fine. Wouldn’t want to see you getting all upset, now, would we?_ ”

Holly, Flo, and Skull wandered off down the hall to the left, the girl’s long black shadows, cast by the ghost’s green other light, slowly slinking by the ghastly exhibits before disappearing.

Lucy turned to follow the boys, who were engrossed in a conversation discussing the possible Visitors present, when she heard a sound, like a faint whisper.

She stopped, closing her eyes and Listening for anything else, but heard nothing, just the slowly dimming footsteps of the boys as they disappeared down the hallway without her.

Lucy hurried after them to catch up when she heard a familiar voice call out from behind her.

“ _Lucy_.”

Lucy’s heart skipped a beat and her blood ran cold. She turned, wide-eyed, to see the one face that she had never wanted to see again. “M-mum?”

“ _So, this is where you ran off to, huh?_ ” her mother jeered. “ _You couldn’t even be bothered to make a name for yourself after you left?_ ”

Lucy shrunk back, eyes wide. She’d made an image of herself at the company that was tough and resilient, but she hadn’t looked this vulnerable since she was a child.

“Mum, what are—?”

“ _Worthless_ ,” her mother spat, cutting her off again. “ _You’d think after all these years, you’d get it in your head to man up a bit_ ,” she mused.

Lucy backed against the wall helplessly. Her mother mimicked her movements, slinking closer until Lucy was practically pinned against the wall.

“Mum… please, stop…” her voice trembled, breaking in a few places. Her mother glared at her pointedly.

“ _You pathetic brat_ ,” she snarled. “ _You really haven’t changed at all, have you? You still need it beaten into you?”_

“Leave me alone,” Lucy growled frailly, voice quivering. She tried to steady her voice, but her mum saw right through her.

“ _Or what? Hm?_ ” Her mother leaned forward smirking. “ _Who’s gonna stop me? Your oh-so-loyal friends? And where are they now?_ ”

Lucy dropped to the ground as her mum kept taunting her.

“ _Exactly. You’re the same lonely little runt you’ve always been_.”

She hadn’t noticed, but tears had started to fall down her cheeks. Lucy clapped her hands over her ears and burrowed her head in her arms in some half-hearted attempt to shut her out.

Her mother leaned in closer, hovering at her side. She subtly smirked, in contrast to the aspersions that she murmured into her ear. “ _Worthless runt. You piss me off_.”

“Stop! Please… please, just stop,” Lucy begged, curling her fingers so that her nails dug into her skin.

Her head was pounding, but her mother’s voice cut through the daze of static that clouded her head, so she couldn’t hear anything else.

An algid breath frosted over the shell of her ear.

“ _I think I’ll take it out on you, just like the old days_ ,” her mother whispered with a manic smile.

At her words, Lucy froze, eyes wide in terror. She couldn’t move, a strong feeling of powerlessness weighing crushingly on her.

“ _Oh? What’s wrong? I thought you’d have gotten used to it by now._ ”

Lucy couldn’t bring herself to respond. She couldn’t think over the pounding in her ears, taking in shuddering breaths as panic jolted endlessly inside her. She felt a looming cold hovering by her, but she couldn’t bring herself to move away from where she was rooted in place.

Then, suddenly, the chilling air around her seemed to dissipate, along with the static that clouded her mind. Her heart continued to pound in her chest, making her breathing erratic as she felt more tears slide down her face.

“Lucy! Lucy, are you alright?!”

Lucy felt warm arms wrap around her shoulders, chasing away most of the chill that had crept into her bones. She recognised that voice, though it seemed so far away.

“H-Holly?”

“I’m here,” Holly consoled, rubbing a hand up and down Lucy’s back soothingly. “You’re alright. Skull started to get all agitated, started up a storm, so we came back. He must have sensed that…  _thing_.”

Slowly, Lucy lifted her tear-streaked face from her arms and looked across the room blearily. Her mother was gone. In her place stood Flo, borrowed rapier in hand, brow furrowed, and Skull, who had a dark expression on his translucent grey face as he looked down at Lucy.

“What the hell was it?!” said Flo, wiping ectoplasm from her blade onto one of the display units.

“D-didn’t you see?” said Lucy, as Holly helped her to her feet.

“It just looked all… black and wispy,” said Holly.

Flo nodded. Skull said nothing.

“What did it look like to you?” said Flo.

Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but then footsteps came pounding towards them, and the boys careened into view.

“What happened?” Quill gasped, out of breath. “We heard noises. Did you see a ghost?”

Lockwood was looking at Lucy with wide eyes. He slowly reached forwards and cupped his hands around her face, wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “What happened?” he said with the air of someone who was ready to murder.

“I-it’s nothing,” Lucy said, faintly.

“It’s obviously not nothing, Lucy!” Lockwood said, incredulous. “You’re as pale as death, you’re shaking all over…” He removed his coat and put it around her shoulders. “We need to get you home.”

“ _First, maybe take care of the Source_ ,” said Skull, gesturing to a display unit. “ _I believe the Visitor disappeared into that_  lovely  _Aztec vase in there._ ”

Lucy relayed the information to the others.

“But… we can’t get into the glass,” said Kipps.

“We’ll come back in the morning with the curator,” said George. “He’ll have keys.”

“ _Better still_ ,” said Skull, waving a hand.

The glass shattered. Lucy glared at him.

He shrugged. “ _Blame it on a ghost_ ,” he said. “ _You won’t exactly be lying_.”

George shoved the vase into a silver net bag. Why the ghost didn’t return to defend itself was a mystery. Maybe Skull was keeping it subdued somehow. Or maybe it only showed itself to one person at a time, for better torment.

They got a night cab home, dropping the Source off at the furnaces along the way, then Holly made everyone a steaming hot cup of tea, and took the liberty of wrapping Lucy in several blankets, even though she insisted she was fine.

“So, what did it look like?” said George, once they were all settled down in the living room.

Holly relayed what she had seen to him; black, wispy tendrils in the vague shape of a person.

Lockwood frowned; Lucy suspected he was remembering the Fetch at Aickmere’s only a few years ago. He turned to her. “And what did it look like to you, Luce?”

Lucy swallowed, thick anxiety rising in her chest. She knew she’d have to tell them eventually; better to get it over with.

“It–” She swallowed again. “It looked like my mum.”

The room was silent for a moment, and Lucy stared down at her tea to avoid looking at anyone; she could feel all their eyes boring into her.

“ _That’s who it was, huh_?” said Skull, breaking the silence unbeknownst to the others.

Lucy looked up at him. “How much did you hear?”

She ignored the others as their eyes darted between her and the Skull.

“ _Enough_ ,” he replied. “ _She doesn’t sound like much fun_.”

“She wasn’t,” said Lucy, pulling her knees up to her chest and cupping the mug of hot tea beneath her chin. “She wasn’t much fun at all.”

The others seemed to have clued on a little now. Quill looked a little sick, George’s and Flo’s expressions were grim. Holly came and sat on the arm of Lucy’s chair, draping an arm around her shoulders. “It wasn’t real, Lucy.”

“I know,” said Lucy. “But it could have been. It was just like her…”

She swallowed back the lump in her throat and sipped her tea.

Lockwood’s expression was dark. “That Christmas you went home… You came back with a cut lip… You said you  _tripped_.”

Lucy shrugged. “It wasn’t too bad, that time. Really.”

“ _Lucy_.”

“ _You know_ ,” said Skully. “ _You should invite her round sometime. I’d_ love _to meet her_.”

“Definitely not,” Lucy said.

“What’s he saying?” said Quill.

“I’m pretty sure he’s offering to kill my mother,” said Lucy. “Which is a  _felony_.”

“No, wait,” said Lockwood. “Think about it. No one would know; it’d just look like ordinary ghost-touch.”

“ _Exactly!_ ” said Skull. “ _You know what? This guy’s growing on me!_ ”

“No one is killing anyone!” Holly scolded. “Lockwood! I expected better from you!”

“Hey,” said George, coming to Lockwood’s defence. “No one hurts Lucy, ok? We can’t just sit around and do nothing!”

“We could at least get Skull to scare her half to death,” said Quill. “I doubt she’d try anything again after that.”

“ _I’m still leaning towards the murder idea_ ,” said Skull, not that anyone but Lucy heard him, and even if they could, they were now arguing too loudly anyway, about what would be the best way to avenge Lucy.

She leaned back in her seat, a slight smile gracing her lips as she watched her friends argue. She was exhausted, emotionally. Her chest ached. Her limbs were heavy. She felt as though she had a cold black cloud over her head, weighing her whole body down. But the sound of her friends arguing for her, so ready to jump to her defence without a second thought, no questions asked, filled her with a new warmth that eased some of the ache just a little bit.

Lucy would gladly never see, speak to, or hear from her mother ever again. She didn’t need her, after all. Her friends were her new family, and they loved her more than Lucy’s mother ever did.


End file.
